#that was a mystery that didn’t need solving etc.

[rowanthestrange]

Yep, yeeting the vicar was me. You just spun-off a good point in my head too…

The birds say between them that they’ll then become members of government and start wars. (Possibly just in-character playing ‘Baddies’, I maintain that’s why the “breaking spines! removing tonsils! live vivisection” line is there because while murdering, they have done literally nothing like that, and it’s the sort of silly thing a child would say when playing a monster trying to think of the nastiest things a monster could do). “We still have the big finale wedding to come. And then... London. We can play our games on a magnificent scale. Parliament first, then royalty. I can be King. And we can start wars with the French and the Spanish and the Portuguese, and everyone who doesn't look British.”

But uh. Rogue wasn’t there for that. They were well away by then.

So when in Rogue’s non-stop barrage firehose waterboarding of the Doctor he says: “They’ll kill us. Then this house. Then London. Then the world. You know that. You absolutely know it.”

He can’t have logicked that out. There were a few deaths sure, but one housekeeper and a duchess not only isn’t ‘these are extremely dangerous and fast killing machines’-worthy, that leap doesn’t make sense.

It’s not even true in their possibly-just-roleplay Baddie Plan. ‘And we’ll start wars with x y and z and everyone who isn’t British! Bloodshed, cannons, gunpowder!’, like that is a lonnnnnnng plan. Like I said before this situation is no ‘we don’t have time to run away and regroup’ thing, they’re slow killers, and especially with Ruby with battle mode engaged she at least would be fine. But it’s that taking over London bit. Very specifically.

He claims he hasn’t met them, doesn’t know how many there are, he’s not admitting to any prior knowledge of these guys.

So the only way he comes up with that line is if he already knew what they wanted out of their campaign in the first place.

And why would a bounty hunter sent for the money who claims to not know anything about Planet Earth’s ‘ancient traditions’ from cosplay to homosexuality (…didn’t mean it that way but keeping it, it’s funny) also know so many random little details about this time and place, down to what the capital is?

(Also the bird ship is already fucky in that regard - an Asteroid Hopper wouldn’t be able to travel in time, you can tell by the name - short hops from ‘landmass’ to ‘landmass’. How’d they all get to 1813 while still having a playlist with Kylie (or for that matter D&D)? It’s not really one, it just looks like it is.)

imo if he was just a random guy doing a package deal you’d have covered it in the episode, no need to stretch that plot out to multiple ones and across multiple seasons no less - making some assumptions about the finale anyway, it should be Ruby’s time to shine not anyone else’s. And we do really need more Pantheon rather than random characters, we have two so far, two. If Susan and Flood are both pantheon, four. Not a “legion” yet by a stretch. Same if he was also a bird in psychic disguise, but you could possibly make it work still, just seems at minimum like an odd choice to do literal-meta wise with the limited time we have at only 8 episodes per season/half-season ykwim? And we take very ‘I know about those episodes with Jack Harkness and am referencing them a lot’ approach in an episode about ‘the aliens have watched british tv’, so that means at minimum he probably is someone who watched Doctor Who, so unlikely it’s a complete random, and only the Pantheon can be confidently said to have done so so far, but maybe a lot more people will have later??

But I certainly think the Chuldur are The Rogue’s friends (perhaps for a given value, and they’re a bit dim, but a god creature that understands friends if not ‘npc life’ could be cool, even if when one of their ‘characters’ dies, he’s like well, that’s D&D for you). And I think that he’s clearly going to a lot of effort building the story for them, so we’re six of one and half a dozen of the other really on that score. Could be a for-payment thing, but either way he certainly seems concerned and careful to maintain their wellbeing when any real bounty hunter would have shot them on the glue trap etc.

Maybe that’s why the ship’s so fucky actually, DM’s love their props, this is about playing D&D In The Real World, so maybe he got one originally, but now they’ve just kept magically editing it over time as the campaign and rule of cool needed. Appearance, time travel etc. “It should look like a bird!” “…Yeah! It should look like a bird! Great idea Emily, we’ll work that in!”

And yes, that there was going to be another story here originally is definitely relevant, and who was he in it?

We know they were going to have a big wedding, but maybe that they’re also Baddies going to take over the world muhahaha! Cus they went into that real quick but also they said that the panicking and screaming is their favourite bit - so there must have been a plan to cause that after the wedding part of the game! They were playing Baddies! So, thinking like what our lead bird would want for a moment, if you were to DM that, maybe he’s both playing the bounty hunter sent to catch them …But maybe also was going to do an “I Object!” scene too. Let’s say Rogue doesn’t know the Doctor was coming in advance. He’s already got ‘I’m The Bad Guy’ playing if this wasn’t a live magical edit on seeing him. Maybe that’s why he chose to look like Mr Darcy. Maybe he was going to woo one of them - a good reason to already have the ring. Cus a big wedding can’t go right, that’s not drama, that’s boring. We know he’s probably cloaked - not only do they not recognise him but we have Ruby’s earring interference pointed directly at him (same tech frequency problems?) and even mention the psychic jewellery’s ability to mask a scent with a false one. So he was an NPC just meant to turn up and add some of their beloved drama. So he’d woo a Chuldur, he’ll object and then he would reveal himself as a bounty hunter with his Big Glowy Gun and trap! It was a dastardly trick! You knew he was a Rogue and a cad all along, you just let yourself fall for his deceit! *teleports to ship rather than incinerator*

BRO. Even the bird’s D&D plot would naturally be the ‘I was tricking you and am actually your enemy’ twist!

highly influenced by @rowanthestrange i am now starting to be in favour of the chuldurs having paid Rogue, or the company he works for, for an all-inclusive fully-immersive LARP experience

like. they came together in the bird ship maybe (while it's bird shaped it's awfully messy to be transporting your customers)

Rogue is the dungeon master, making sure they have an interesting time and even luring the doctor there for the ultimate excitement. as a lot of dungeon masters do he also provides the adversaries for the players/is an adversary. they have to evade capture or they "get teleported to the incinerator"

(he . has a gun. why would he not just use it . why teleport them to death? unless he is actually just sending them home, a little disappointed they lost the game)

i do think the chuldurs might've gone off-script a bit, and that they're not meant to try to take over the english government of 1813 and start wars with everywhere. like they were trying to go beyond the LARP they paid for maybe, the Immersive Earth LARP company isn't trying to steer humanity's history off-course, that'd interfere with their business model

and at the end, i saw someone (rowan likely) point out that if the transport triangle thing just needed Some other body in place of Ruby's, he could've at least tried to give the vicar a rather unceremonious burial into another dimension.

and again he could've just shot the chuldurs and deactivated the gate once they were dead. the doctor would be a bit cross he killed them but like. that'd make sense for his character as a selfish bounty hunter who is developing a bit of a crush on this timelord guy

unless they're working together and he's not sacrificing at all

i doubt this theory explains everything (well right now it's definitely not explaining everything, but it has the potential to explain slightly more than it's doing now, but maybe not the whole episode) but i wanted to put it out there

[reds-writings]

jealousy, jealousy!

(pairing: rust cohle x fem!reader)

a/n: hello! welcome to my first bout of writing! feedback is greatly appreciated and i hope you enjoy! there isn't much rust content on here so i figured i'd create it myself lmao

warnings: cursing, steamy scenes but nothing too crazy, sorta sexism, marty hart being himself, rust being pigheaded, mentions of sex, etc etc let me know if i missed anything (minors just don't bother interacting regardless thank you!)

word count: around 5.8k

Never did you think that sitting in the passenger’s seat of Rustin Cohle’s red Ford pickup could have you seething as it did now. This wasn’t at all how your night was supposed to go and the culprit of said unsavory evening was sitting right next to you, cigarette pinched between tense fingers and eyes set hard on the dark highway ahead. The stubborn bastard had made no move to turn on the radio to save you both from the borderline unbearable silence. All you had was the humid Louisiana air from his rolled-down window flowing into the truck’s cabin and you couldn’t quite find it in you to be grateful for the fact he seemed to have kept in mind you detested the smell of that sour burning tobacco. 

Just who the hell does he think he is?

The question that repeated itself a mile a minute in your Coors-addled brain as it fought to catch up with all that just occurred not even a mere hour prior. Rust, as you already well knew, did not bother himself much when it came to others unless it strictly involved the endless trials of his work. That was the line he drew on a daily basis. Nothing could be clearer than the fact that Rust had little to no capacity for getting truly personal with most who existed in his orbit.

It was something you dealt with a bit better than the likes of your other partner Marty day in and day out at the CID. Though he may be one mystery wrapped in a more or less fucked up enigma, Rust’s way of functioning stayed relatively consistent. You didn’t dig often given that he wasn’t up and ready to offer much in the first place. He was sharp and strong-minded. Possessing most qualities that make well for a good investigative partner. Lines didn’t get muddled. It was how you preferred it. Up until recently, that is.

You didn’t have much nerve or will to go down that route right about now. 

Earlier in the day…

Your fingers were cramping at the end of typing the last dregs of the day’s reports. This recent case was starting to weigh heavier and heavier as an influx of countlessly cryptic details revealed themselves with each milestone of the investigative process. Something about this being darkly occultish as it was made it all the more daunting. There was a sense of underlying dread that this was something bigger than all of you. A sentiment you found yourself sharing with at least one of your partners: Rust. Marty on the other hand was still on the fence, not totally in the business of believing this was more than just some twisted piece of shit who had nothing better to do with his time. You wish you had half the mind to reduce it down to something so simple.

Strange things were not that of an irregular occurrence around these parts. Though said strange things didn’t have the habit of making it to the limelight as the Dora Lange case had. This wasn’t the type of case where one could be fine with just leaving it at work and picking it back up when they returned the next day as normal. Its disturbing details twisted themselves into every fiber of your daily life since that poor girl was found posed in Erath. It was better to eat, sleep, and breathe this case so that it may be solved all the more quickly. 

A world with one less monster like the one capable of committing a murder such as this is was a world where you could maybe sleep a little more soundly. 

Rolling your shoulders back, you twisted your aching neck side to side, resounding with an aching series of pops. God, I need a drink. You thought to yourself as you leaned back into the roller chair at your desk. The clock on your floor’s wall read 6:02. With all the work on your part done you figured you could slip out with much complaint. Stiffly rising from your spot, you started to pack away any necessary belongings into your well-loved messenger bag. Marty glanced up from his notes with a small quirk of his brow, “You headin’ out?”

Throwing your hair up to save yourself from the impending humidity from outside you replied, “Yeah. Need to wash the day off me and go grab a drink or somethin’. Bein’ out talkin’ to them church folk in the heat nearly all afternoon then witnessin’ Rust make that one boy shit himself was enough for the day.” 

Marty snorted to himself at that while Rust made no move to acknowledge your statement from his spot as he analyzed his comically large ledger. The blonde sipped his evening coffee as you finished gathering your things, “Don’t get too crazy tonight now. Lots to do in the days to follow I reckon the more this case stays befuddlin’ as is.”

You scoffed lightly, “I don’t doubt that. I’ll probably just head to that Blue Gator joint off the highway. Grab a few beers. Maybe a dance should one be willin’. Need’ta let loose is all.” 

“I’m sure any fella would be delighted to spin the night away with the likes of you, darlin’. Leave it at just dancin’ will ya?” Marty snickered a bit as you scowled and flipped him off idly. You notice in your peripheral Rust go still with a pen in hand but he didn’t make any move to look up or participate in the conversation. 

Continuing, you fix Marty with a half-hard look, “I’m sure you have your extracurricular activities beyond the job so it ain’t a sin to have my own. Anways, this is hardly an appropriate conversation to have betwixt coworkers, Martin. Keep your nose outta it.” 

Marty let out a surprised guffaw and placed an offended hand over his heart. Rust still hadn’t moved an inch from his position. When you let your gaze drift over towards the silent half of the duo you were met with that cold blue stare of his. The mere instance of contact left you feeling funnier than you’d prefer as of late. Things were starting to blossom into something a little different between you two after the few months of being in each other’s presence. He had been starting to open up in a manner he hadn’t bothered to when he first transferred to the CID here in Louisana. His presence had been quiet but no less intimidating, leaving you and Marty at a loss of what to do to prompt him out of his self-imposed shell.

Now, as this new case unfolded it seemed to trigger a sudden release of the deepest tidbits of his…intense opinions and values that went on within the inner workings of his mind. Marty often found himself wishing that Rust never bothered to open his mouth at all. Anything coming from the brooding Texan seemed to offend Hart on some deeper level one way or another.

For you, while it was not all that pleasant to constantly hear how fucked up we as a collective were and how life had little to no meaning, were intrigued nonetheless. You believed that Rust was just as human as everyone else despite him pushing himself as far away from that narrative as possible. He was just broken in a way that couldn’t ever be truly reversed. So while his infinitely dismal ramblings left you feeling more defeated about life than anything else at times, you couldn’t find it in you to really hold it against him. 

When it came to your dynamic, he seemed to have more of an unspoken respect for you than most of your colleagues did within the department. It wasn’t some radical declaration made by him that clued you in on the matter. He mostly just treated you the same as everyone else. Not inherently negative nor too positively outgoing where others could accuse him of giving you some form of special treatment. He listened to you and took your input into genuine consideration which was more than you could ask for when it came to working alongside any of your other male counterparts. However, there were these little instances within the recent weeks that had your mind (and heart) taking another route when it came to how Rust Cohle just might regard you. 

First, it started with fresh coffee materializing on your desk by the time you’d be strolling in at morning time. Two sugars with one cream and always in your favorite green mug ordained with hand-painted daisies. Very specific and not at all a detail that Marty ever bothered himself with remembering about you in the time you’d known each other. Not that you ever really cared. No one else here would ever think to offer you a damn thing unless it was maybe the lovely receptionist up at the front.

It wasn’t until one night you had forgotten your keys at your desk and made your way back inside the assumingly empty department only to find the Rust Cohle with sleeves pushed up to his elbows in the small office kitchen cleaning your daisy mug that you’d left haphazardly in the sink before leaving. You watched in silent awe as he had set it gently aside after drying it for what you assumed was for the next morning where he’d be the one who dutifully made your memorized coffee order in secret before your arrival. To him, the act was probably meaningless. 

To you, the simple scene made your heart squeeze in a way you didn’t think was possible. 

Next, it occurred when he started offering you rides to and fro after your car suffered a nasty rear-ending thus needing to have it sit in the shop for the time being. At first, it was a little nerve-wracking to be in close proximity without Marty present to break any drawn-out silences but after a while you’d found yourself in a rhythm you could call your own. Sometimes you’d talk, sometimes you’d sit and listen to whatever old country cassettes he had stowed away in his glove compartment. It was never dull to you. 

Each car ride had you piecing together factoids that unfurled into the evergrowing idea that was your new(ish) partner. You still found yourself sharing more about your own life than he did more often than not but you were okay with that. Even if he wasn’t the most reactive of men, you knew he held on to every word. Anything he decided to sparingly share had you doing the same with a reverence you weren’t sure you carried for anyone else.  

After getting your car back and no longer needing his chauffeur services a silent agreement had followed. Neither party was completely ready to let go of the pleasant thirty-three minutes permitted to be spent together outside of work. It was decided that he’d drive you home on nights you happened to leave late, deeming it too dangerous to be traveling home at odd hours in the night although you had already been doing so plenty before he manifested into your life.

Eventually, he even found himself at your house one day after having determined that your porch steps needed fixing…or that your gutters should be cleared…or that the lawn was looking a little too overgrown than what was acceptable. Small acts where you felt that maybe he wanted to be in your presence a bit longer than normally desired when it came to his usual limits of socialization.

Seeing him working around your property with that sweat-soiled wife beater of his and those lithe, god-given arms made that squeeze in your heart reach new heights and your tongue feel like lead. Who knew such pictures of domesticity could have this intense of a hold over you? You usually prided yourself in not being so easily affected by men. Though it wasn’t necessarily news that Rust was his own brand of a striking handsome that stood out against most men you’d come across. The sweet tea you’d supply for the dreadful heat when he’d carry out his projects ended up being more for your own benefit than his.

You caught yourself feeling greedy for more of his presence as he made himself an increasingly present fixture in your life. Which realistically…couldn’t lead to any sort of good. 

Bringing yourself back to now, his gaze held an emotion you couldn’t quite place. Hell, most times it was hard enough to know exactly what he was thinking unless he outright declared it. Maybe it was disapproval? Judgement? It wasn’t likely that he wanted to hear about your potential escapades. You probably wouldn’t want to hear of his either (not that he ever does speak of it if he even engages in that sort of activity) but you’d be coming from a different place on that matter. He returns to the pages of his ledger after deciding to break the staring spell, “I don’t see what sorta grand company could be found at an establishment such as the Green Gator.”

 His tone came out a bit too passive for your liking. Bordering the ugly lines of judgy which was something that rubbed you wrong entirely, “It’s the Blue Gator-”

“Oh hush up, Mr. High and Mighty. Not every man is as intellectually driven as you find yourself. Most men want fun and ain’t gonna pass it up when it’s in front of em’. They don’t need nearly as much as you do to get their rocks off.” Marty angles himself towards Rust in his chair, already willing to bat for you in his more than unhelpful way. 

Rust just scoffed and shook his head slightly, “Wouldn’t expect a thing from anyone in this vast shithole…buncha ignorant shitheels with no sense of fuckin’…” He muttered the rest of his ramblings detailing the severe lack of intelligence that the people of Louisiana seemed to hold while bringing his attention back to his ledger. 

His shoulders were set in a harder line than usual. Marty got a kick out of it all, reducing Rust’s distaste to not being able to participate in normalcy like anybody else in the world could.    

On your end, it struck a nerve that he clearly found your plans more than dissatisfactory. It left an unpleasant taste in your mouth to be on the potential receiving end of Rust’s ruthless judgments.

“You forget him, y/n. You have yourself a good ol’ time with whatever strappin’ young man of your choosing should he be lucky. Don’t let grumpy guss piss on your parade.” 

You find yourself grimacing at how much focus on you and the prospect of potentially getting laid has been put. You look back to Rust but he seemed to be no longer interested in your presence, back in his own world and on the case. Patting Marty on the shoulder you finally make your way to head out, “G’night. I’d love it if we never brought any of this up again. Page me if anythin’ comes up.” 

“Y’got it, darlin’. You stay safe.” Marty points at you a bit more seriously and you nod in slight exasperation with a soft ‘got it’ before officially leaving. Rust hadn’t said another word which left you feeling all sorts of confused. Relieved he didn’t further insult your plans for a night out? Disappointed he didn’t put up much of a fight when it came to you maybe trying to avoid any of your current problems with the company of another man? You don’t know what you expected but you did know that you needed to get it together and just let this shit go even for just one night. 

And what a night it would be indeed. 

Night at the Blue Gator…

The night was proving to be a bit more than uneventful. Perhaps uneventful was just about the only thing your mind could handle at the given moment with everything else going on. The lingering feeling of Rust’s disapproval had also left you more affected than desired. With a few Coors in your system, you find your gaze a little hazy as it passes around the kitschy establishment.

Some George Strait song filters through the bar on top of the active chatter of the patrons taking up a surprising amount of space for a Wednesday night. The cute little black dress you managed to find in your closet and squeeze into was becoming less than ideal as you found yourself hearing the siren call of just calling it quits and crawling into bed back home. Clean sheets and reruns of something like The Golden Girls…absolute fucking heaven right about now. 

Briefly pressing your perspiring bottle to your forehead, you soon enough were roped into a dance as some lively Brooks and Dunne tune came on. The fella who managed to drag you on the dancefloor was decent enough. A bit short and plenty bald… with maybe a tad too eager of hands for your tastes that left you feeling a bit removed from the experience as a few more songs went on. You weaseled yourself out of the crowd after ‘promising’ baldy (named Rex or Tex but who’s to really care) you’d make your return after grabbing a refreshment. 

Making your way to the bar your legs come to a sudden halt at the sight of a familiar figure slouched on a stool. After your brief shock shifted into a brewing irritation, your feet found themselves mobile again as you sidle next to Rust and order yourself another drink. He put out his cigarette as soon as you were near his side but made no motion to speak so you find yourself shooting first.

“For a place you couldn’t bother gettin’ the name right of you can color me surprised to see you here.”

“A man ain’t allowed to drink after work?” Is his flat reply. 

You put your hands up in mock defense, “No need for my permission. Just didn’t think you’d grace the simpletons ‘round here when you can have a drink for free and in peace in the comforts of your own home.” 

Rust didn’t have anything to say to that, instead lifting his own drink to his lips, “That man sure had a grip on ya. Doesn’t seem the type you’d to give the time of day to. Less’ you’re that compelled to blow off steam.” 

The thinly veiled nonchalance of his insult didn’t go past you. Instead, it caused you to bristle only in the way you could when you had a few drinks in you, a bit more sensitive and a helluva lot more confrontational. Who was he to judge how you spend your time? Let alone who the hell you spend it with? You set your new drink down with more force than necessary and felt your face starting to get hot. 

“I can dance with just about anybody.”

“That’s been made clear.”

“And why in god’s name do you care exactly just who it is I dance with?”

“Don't remember ever givin' the implication that I quite cared.” Calculated blue flitted over you as if bored. But you knew better.

“I’m sorry, did you just come here to make me out to be some desperate whore for drinkin’ and dancin’ when I’m a grown-” That got his expression to fall with something closely resembling alarm. 

“That ain’t-”

“Last I checked I can do whatever I so fuckin’ please. Do not go insertin’ yourself in the aspects of my life in which you are not fuckin’ concerned. Some of us are lonely and tired and can’t take comfort in stupid murder manuals or severe stretches of solitude. Call it my shitty programmin’ but that’s just how it is for most people. If I wanna drink and let a greaseball feel me up then that’s entirely up to me! Shit, it might be dumber than hell but it’s not like I’m gonna sit and wait around for you to make a move! That’s if you even feel a speck of the way I’m startin’ to towards you. Knowin’ you you’ve probably noticed and just like to see me embarrassed or somethin’.”

 Everything was coming out like one big bout of word vomit. There was an even deeper change in Rust’s demeanor but you were too tipsy and too angry to pay much notice. The burning behind your eyes grew stronger as you threw up a finger to jab at his shoulder,

“It is not up to you to judge people for the shit they do that you deem is beneath you every chance you get. You’re not perfect yourself and I know you know it. But thanks anyway for making me feel like a fuckin’  stupid loser-” Your heated rant was interrupted by a fat mitt of a hand making its way around your waist. 

“This fella botherin’ you, honey?” The hot whiskey-riddled breath of Tex or Lex or whoever the fuck immediately made your nose wrinkle in disgust. Your patience had run its due course for the night as you roughly shoved him off you,

“Oh come off it, Dex-”

“It’s Rex.”

“I don’t care no more I’m leavin’.” You threw a couple bills on the bar’s surface before making your move past both the offending men. Rex had different ideas and made the choice of gripping your arm tightly without much remorse despite your loud protest. 

“You still owe me a dance, bitch. Where d’ya think you’re goin-”

“You best get your hands off her, boy.” Rust’s glare was off-putting even to you. Rex was either too stupid or too drunk to really care as he attempted to yank you back towards him. With your heart racing, all you could think to do was take your heel-adorned food and stomp on his booted one hard. The short bastard yelped as he let you go, giving you the room to skirt past him far enough just in time for Rust to take him by the collar and send him reeling with a swift punch.   

Rex surprisingly regained momentum and took his chance to get a lick back at Rust but his opponent was already plenty steps ahead of him. Rust took Rex’s fist, twisting it behind the shithead’s back, and slammed his head into the bar countertop with a sick thud. A commotion had well enough formed by now and it was your obvious cue to start hustling your way out. Rust spit on the man who now had made a home on the sticky floorboards before turning to you. Your chest was heaving as you made way to open your mouth but he wouldn’t hear it as he grabbed your arm and started leading you out. 

The bar doors slammed open and the persistently thick air of the South drove you further into rage. You yanked your arm a few times until finally freeing yourself from his clutches. He didn’t stop to acknowledge you, instead making his way toward his truck as if expecting you to faithfully trail behind.

“Where exactly do you get off?!” You demanded, struggling to keep up in your heels which then had you electing to nearly fall over yourself trying to rip them off.

No answer.

“I’m talkin’ to you! What the hell is wrong with you?” Your feet were finally free on the warm pavement of the parking lot. You still received no reply.

“RUSTIN.” Your throat nearly felt raw at the volume of your hollering. He stopped at his truck’s passenger door and opened it. The blood in your veins thrummed while your head and heart felt like they were going to burst out of their respective places. 

“Get in the truck.”

“Absolutely not.” 

“You’re drunk-”

“You ain't one to talk. Don’t think I ain’t seen those bottles of cough syrup in your car or them pill bottles you got! I’ll make it just fine-"

“Y/n.” His low baritone left no room for argument, nor did his hard stare. You felt like a petulant child staring back at him with your arms crossed. 

Your will to break was unshakeable but you had the inclination that if you pushed him hard enough he’d have you in that passenger seat even if you came kicking and screaming. Huffing out a harsh breath you half stomped your way over and climbed in. Grabbing the handle for yourself you slammed the door before he had the chance to close it for you. You felt a lick of petty satisfaction when you saw his shoulders drop and a hand come up to squeeze the back of his neck. It wasn’t often you could catch Rust off-guard, let alone see him visibly exasperated.

After a moment or two, he rounded his way to the driver’s side and got inside with noticeably less ruckus than you did. He lit a cigarette as he pulled out of the parking lot, but not before rolling down the window in consideration of you. Bastard. 

“My car better find its way back into my damn driveway come morning.” 

He remained silent for the rest of the way.

Back to the present…

Pulling up to your house, the truck hadn’t even made a complete stop before you unbuckled and hastily hopped on out. You only stumbled a bit as the old Ford squeaked behind you in what was probably the harsh fashion in which Rust must’ve slammed on his brakes at your sudden escape. You heard the truck get thrown into park and a heavy slam of a door shutting as you quickened your pace up the pathway to your front porch. Your heaving breaths were drowned out by the frogs and nearby cicadas that created their own little symphony on your property. You knew Rust was following you but you naively hoped you’d make it up to shut the door in his face just in time. 

'Fuck, I forgot my shoes.’ Was your narrow thought as you fumbled for your key ring in the endless depths of your purse. Rust’s footsteps grew closer causing you to whip around and shove him back with a clumsy force much to his surprise. 

“Don’t you come followin’ me! I’ve had just about enough of you!”

“Listen-”

“No you listen! Never have I been more embarrassed than you’ve made me tonight. Never have I felt more stupid and small all because you decided today was the day I’d be on the shit end of your scathing criticisms! You can fuck right off with that mess. I’m goin’ to bed.” You turned to start your trek before he spoke up again,

“My intentions were not to come by and make you feel stupid.”

A near-jarring laugh clawed its way from your system, “Oh, so that’s your twisted way of makin’ a girl feel cared for. Is that it?” 

He let out a frustrated sound, “What’d you mean by startin’ to feel a certain way towards me. Back at the bar.”

Your heart nearly dropped out of your ass just then. Did you really blab on about that somewhere in the middle of your tirade? God, you could just about go feed yourself to the gators right now. Work would no doubt be complete hell after this nightmare of an outing.

“Take it how you want it. I know with you being as perceptive as you are it shouldn’t come as a mystery what I might feel. You do plenty towards me that’s had me foolishly thinkin’ there could be a one in a million chance of somethin’ but no dice. So what I want to know is why did you follow me out. Why did you come all this way to ruin my night.” 

The silence was biting as he offered up no explanation. He seemed to be trying to figure out that answer himself. Instead of the petty satisfaction you felt from seeing him at a loss earlier, he seemed well and truly bothered now which left a sinking feeling in your gut. The thought of the immovable force in front of you being this bothered when it came to matters involving you just made you all the more disoriented. There was only one other plausible explanation as to why he went through all this trouble to insert himself into the mix. 

You could almost fall to your knees laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of your creeping realization. It couldn’t be. There was just no way. But given the miserable look of Rust’s obvious inner battle on what he should decide to say to you had you gawking. 

The man was jealous. Rustin Cohle, feeler of nothing and believer of none, was jealous. A fit of giggles made their way out of you before you could help it. It might’ve been in poor taste during the seriousness of the moment between you both but you couldn’t stop. Rust seemed all the more distressed as if he’d been caught red-handed. Stripped bare in front of you despite no real accusation of his behavior being made quite yet. 

“If I knew any better I’d say you were plain jealous, Rust. Can’t say I see you bein’ capable of actin’ so irrationally. I thought entertainin’ such primal notions was too beneath you. Especially should it involve lil ol’ me.”

But he was indeed more than susceptible to all the irrational factors of his so-called programming when it came to you. You were beautiful. Mind, body, and soul. Your presence brought things to the surface he didn’t believe he could ever have the experience of feeling again. It scared him shitless. Having to face what was making his old tired heart beat into a lively rhythm again after convincing himself things of that nature were abysmally futile. Even as you stood in front of him now, with eyes and hair looking something fiercely wild, feet bare and dirtied from your lack of shoes in that high-cut black ensemble you had on. He absolutely knew that he couldn’t bring himself to deny what his programming was demanding of him when it came to the unknowing hold you had over him. Flexing his shaking fingers as if to render them steady he took a slow approach to you. 

This was a moment where you had neither the sense nor the imagination to anticipate what he’d do next. It was as if your heart had forgotten how to keep itself beating. This was the closest you had found yourself in his proximity. Being able to see every fine detail of the tragically beautiful man in front of you could have left you speechless for the rest of your days.

A large, calloused hand came to cup your jaw then the other followed. Both nearly took up the entire sides of your face, and their warmth made you feel as if you were on fire. His grip was firm… more so intenful if you were to put a name to it. Eyes searched each other in the most tortuously bated moment you’d ever found yourself being victim to. If you were to move an inch or look away the spell might be broken forever and you think you might just collapse if that were to happen. When had you gotten this dramatic?

Kiss me. God, kiss me. Just kiss me. You thought over and over as if willing it into his mind. Then, as if he heard you through some unspoken link, he did. 

It was like being let in on one big universal secret that couldn’t be fathomed by most. Never had you thought a kiss could wield as much power as Rust’s did. For being such a hard and withdrawn individual, the feeling of his slightly chapped lips on your plush ones felt nothing short of soul-bearing and endlessly warm. Trailing your hands up his broad chest, the quick pitter-pattering of his heart didn’t go past you. Drawing your palms up further you reach to lace deft fingers into the sandy waves that you’d secretly been aching to touch for a while now. His breath faltered as you pulled back for a brief moment. It wasn’t long before the invisible magnet between you both had you returning for more. 

The kiss turned more intense, bodies pressing and molding into each other as if you could become one entity. His tongue traced the seams of your lips and you had no qualms with letting him invade your senses further. The need for air was becoming harder to ignore but no force on earth could rip you away. The desire for him was something you’d not felt for another person in you’re not sure how long. If not ever. His breath held traces of the Lonestar he’d been cradling and the cigarette he’d deeply pulled on the way here and it had you absolutely hooked as it curled into your mouth. You didn’t know how long the pair of you stood on your porch necking like a bunch of desperate teenagers but by the time he pulled away you felt dizzy at the sight of his flushed complexion and swollen lips. Possessiveness gripped your being at the thought of being able to have such an effect on him. You. No one else. 

Rust’s grip loosened on your heated face as he planted one last sweet kiss on you before stepping away entirely. It was a shock that you had any remaining strength to keep yourself upright. His expression seemed a bit more relaxed, a bit too casual for what just transpired. There was a brief pause. 

“Don’t go out dancin’ anymore.” 

With that, he turned and made his slow descent back to his truck. Snapping out of your daze once the words sunk into the crevices of your Rust-drunk brain you quirked a brow, 

 “If that’s your odd way of layin’ claim on me I think I’m gonna need to ask for a more straightforward redo, mister.” 

You saw his shoulders shake slightly in amusement as the night found itself ending on a more playful albeit confusing note, “G’night, y/n.”

“I’m bein’ serious, Rust. You can’t just kiss a girl like that then waltz on out. I have questions.” You pointed.    

 “I’ll see ya tomorrow.” The cowboy gave a slight wave and then got into his truck. Oh, you could wipe that subtly growing smirk right off his stupid face. His dry sense of humor made its presence known at what you thought was the most inopportune of times. You stood there watching his truck disappear into the night, the ghost of him sticking to you like molasses. Your fingertips graced your buzzing lips and you could’ve started giggling again like some schoolgirl. How ridiculous indeed. 

You were so not letting any of this go when you got into work tomorrow.

[anim-ttrpgs]

I recently ran an oneshot for my friends in Eureka.

It was a lot of fun and went mostly smoothly! The charakter creation was very easy. It still took more time than I expected, but that was simply because the players needed it to decide on which traits etc. to pick.

The central resolution mechanic with 2d6 is of course tried and true (I assume. Never played one of the many other 2d6 games.) but especially the Eureka system felt really good.

I think I read in a recent post of your's, that you are overhauling the chapter on combat. That seems very important to me. Even though I read the whole book once before running the game, I had immense problems finding out how small details of the combat worked during play. The musings on game design (eg, "yes, the combat is deadly, thats on purpose heres why" and such) where really enlightening to read, but got in the way when searching for concrete stats.

I will run the same oneshot again for different friends. The game seems really promising to me.

My mystery took place on a single in game evening, and none of the players were monsters. Having therefore only scratched at the surface of Eureka, I am looking forward to running it more.

Woo! We LOVE hearing about this kinda stuff!

And yeah everything about how the combat-related rules are structured is getting overhauled. All of that was written like 2 years ago when I was a slightly worse game designer and MUCH worse at writing coherent paragraphs and hasn’t been touched since until now. Instead of being split across like four paragraphs (what was I thinking), there will be just two chapters on it: “Instruments of Violence”, which is mostly just a giant list of references for the stats and special rules of weapons and armor, and “Dangerous Situations”, which covers every rule related to how your investigators can get killed. Some of these clean-ups are already available in the latest patreon release, and the rest are coming soon to both patreon and the itchio beta.

Combat is a very rare thing in Eureka, but when it does come up, we want it to be tight and granular, but without wasting the players’ time, which I think we’ve done pretty well at.

Like the book says, combat is deadly and there’s a reason why: so it doesn’t waste the players’ time.

This is a twofold problem to solve. The first layer of it, we solved by making sure the numbers are low. Most weapons can take a character down in 2 to 3 hits, so a single instance of two guys smacking each other will never take too many rounds.

Secondly, well, combat is dangerous and deadly, and if the PCs approach it without a plan, they’re gonna die, or at least get their asses kicked fast. Otherwise, well, I consider that a waste of the players’ time. If it was predetermined that the PCs would win otherwise the story can’t continue, well, what did we roll all those die, look up all those stats, and track all that HP for? Why didn’t we just describe the PCs winning and move on? Combat matters because it can change the outcome of the adventure, and if it can’t change the outcome, why are you rolling dice? Of course with death being so possible, to keep it fun, we gotta include lots of “tools” like cover, positioning, different weapons, special melee attacks, etc. that the PCs can use cleverly to give themselves an edge, and *earn* their survival.

Oh and also yeah can’t wait to hear what you think about the monsters. Funny thing about that, everyone who has read the rulebook knows that monsters and other supernatural creatures are supposed to be really rare, like one supernatural person for every 3,000,000 normal people kinda rare, but, monsters are super cool and fun to play, and are one of the big draws of the system, so we were kinda worried that that rarity wouldn’t come through in play, everyone would just be monsters. We considered setting a limit on how many monsters can be in a party? But quickly decided against it, because then players would have to compete for the limited monster slots, and people might even feel like if they’re not filling in that slot every single adventure, they’re missing an opportunity, and so every party would max out their monster limit every time and there’d, again, be way too many monsters.

In practice, though, most parties in Eureka seem to be comprised of all normal people, or all normal people and 1 monster at most, even without the limit. And I suspect this is both because monsters are kinda difficult to play despite their immense power, and, just to brag, because we made the normal PCs fun has hell to play too. :)

[celestiarambles]

Hi this may divert from my usual content, but as someone with a platform like this I need to speak up about this.

The Philippines-China maritime dispute has been going on for years now, but lately the tensions had been getting more and more worse to the point it’s super concerning now.

Here’s a bit of a history lesson: China claims that the West Philippine Sea is theirs because of the nine-dash line, but the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled in 2016 that that had no basis under international law. Other than that, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) said that China’s historic rights on the territory no longer exists. So basically, the West Philippine Sea belongs to the Philippines.

However, China rejects that decision. They have harassed, intimidated, and even used armed conflict on our vessels. China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels had even used a water cannon against our ships TWICE, in which one incident resulted to getting seven Navy personnel wounded.

Worse, there are also allegations of a spy being planted here. Alice Guo, one of the mayors in Tarlac (a city in the Philippines) had mysteriously risen to power despite having no prior experience or connections whatsoever. Literally no one even knew her in her town. She just claims to live in a simple farm. However, she owns a luxury sports car and a helicopter. And somehow, everything regarding her past is inconsistent; she doesn’t know what her mother’s name was, who she grew up with, no school documents, hell she didn’t even have a birth certificate up until she was 17 years old. This was all brought up because she was involved in the criminal activities (like human trafficking, scams, etc.) of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) which also has the Chinese involved.

The US has also been taking advantage of the situation by deploying 9 EDCA sites (military bases) for a supposed military pact, but former US Marine Intelligence Officer Scott Ritter has admitted to using the Philippines as a tool to gain leverage over the Chinese.

What has our government done regarding this dispute? They’re too busy infighting to focus on the bigger picture and on how to settle on an agreement with China.

I just want to take the time to speak up and make people more aware about the ongoing dispute. I know that this has been going on for several years now, but my memory and knowledge about the topic may be a bit wonky so I apologize in advance if I had said anything wrong. You can add more information regarding this or correct the information that I've given if I phrased things wrong.

Regardless, I do know one thing: the West Philippine Sea is ours.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-china-sea-why-are-china-philippines-tensions-heating-up-2024-04-11/

https://www.youtube.com/live/aOrmFJXyAVI?si=P9rPJkJM6BF0NIbW (check 1:57:00)

[writingwithfolklore]

All New Information Belongs in the First 3 Chapters

                The final part of the series where I share the advice my mentor gave me after she read my first 30 pages. (This is part 6, find part 1 here!)

                The last big piece of advice she told me that may apply to stories beyond my own was that all new elements in a story need to be introduced in some way in the first three chapters. Past the third chapter, there's not enough time to introduce something new and explore it fully.

                This “third chapter” rule may adjust slightly depending on how long your chapters are, so I would aim for the first 10 000 words or so, or the first 30 pages.

                This applies to the introduction of characters, aspects of your world, or other elements. That doesn’t mean that every element of the mystery should be solved by the third chapter, just that the mystery should be introduced by then.

                After the third chapter, we spend the book building off of what we know—expanding the world, deepening the characters, revealing more information, etc.

                If it comes out of left field later on in the story, it’s going to seem random and irrelevant. If you want to pull off a twist, you introduce it without clueing in the readers that you’re introducing it. Then later, when the twist happens, they think “ohhh, it was right in front of me and I didn’t see it!” Far more fun than something that occurs from nothing.

                Good luck!

[vidavalor]

Hello! I love your posts about the Ineffable Husbands coded speech so I wanted to ask if you caught the double meaning of the word “clue”! It is one which we hear the first time after the pub and jealous Crowley. The word “Clue” has a double meaning as it is slang for “developing an erection”. Didn’t know if you already caught it, but wanted to share that with you! 😂

Allo allo allo @the-apology-dance! 💕I'm glad you're enjoying reading my wordy rambles. Thanks for the reminder of modern use of "clue." I did think it euphemistic in S2 and why relates to a few other words, so, a shiny little bit o' meta for you on clue, investigate, appearance, suspicion, trace, Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte, and goo in Ineffable Husbands Speak.

Like you pointed out, in our modern times, clue is used euphemistically for getting/having an erection. In slang terms, it's not that old by comparison to other euphemisms for the same thing-- one of which is, of course, "pitching a tent", which the canopy-themed season didn't ignore, as we looked at in another meta how it's one of the words produced by homophony in Aziraphale's French. The thing that's funny about Aziraphale's euphemistic use of clue in S2 is that it's part of their wordplay for reasons different from how we use it so it winds up not really mattering if they know the reason why the rest of us do or not.

A clue as euphemistic for an erection in our world originated around 2006/2007 off of it being used that way in an episode of South Park. Crowley & Aziraphale don't need to know that or even be remotely aware of it for clue to be euphemistic already in Ineffable Husbands Speak because of the etymology of the word. (And, as with everything, it's also possible that they are-- unintentionally or otherwise-- actually the origin of it.)

Clue-- in the sense of a piece of information that helps or could help in solving a mystery-- is a respelling of the Middle English/Germanic words clew/clewe and the French cleue, all of which mean a ball of yarn or thread. It's a really neat origin for a word because of its built-in metaphor-- getting a clue is pulling on threads to unravel a mystery. It also evolved into having a nautical meaning... and we know these two and the sea.

A clue with relation to seafaring is to raise a sail up through use of the cluelines/clewlines on the ship. So, ah, as you can see lol... we're already at an erection euphemism pretty easily without them having the first clue about South Park, right? Clue is tied to both the sea and to thread/yarn, which is seamstress work, which is part of the colors & clothing-themed euphemisms that they have going on as well. There are some of the colors and clothing stuff in Demon's Guide to Angelic Beings and also it's part of the shades of grey convo in 1941, etc.. [I've other Asks related to Mrs. Sandwich/seamstress & the shades of grey convos so more on those soon.] But it's the element of a sense of mystery involved in clue, along with everything else, that makes Aziraphale so hot for the word.

If one of the metas you read was the one about Tip Top, Thank You & Ticketyboo, then you saw a couple of examples of wordplay around the verb to come. The long and short of it is that we humans, as you know, refer to having an orgasm as having come and, within that, is this implicit sense of travel, right?

A coming is an arrival and to come means that you arrived. It implies a journey was undertaken-- that you went somewhere and eventually got to a destination. Humans do this linguistically with other mind-body experiences as well-- you "go to" sleep; you can have "a bad trip" on drugs, etc.. In addition to this, there is a never-ending list of travel-related euphemisms for sex in support of the verb to come. A ride, for example, can be had in a car, on a horse or with your partner. Relevant to what you're talking about with clue, though, is what else that the verb to come deals with and that's appearances and disappearances.

To come also means to appear-- as in, to come into view. This is amusing to Crowley & Aziraphale since, ya know... they can appear and disappear at will. 😄 They're magical beings who can miracle themselves places and pop up in each other's presence. Sometimes, this is part of whatever they're playing at in the moment, like in 1793:

Other times, it's in reference to a mystery, which is often centered around a disappearance. As a result of to come meaning to appear, there are a series of other words related to disappearance that show up in their wordplay. Two of them-- suspicion and trace-- pop up in Demon's Guide to Angelic Beings. Crowley buried the word pish (which has ties to nightingales, fish, and peas, as we looked at in another meta) in the middle of "suspicious" while tying it to Aziraphale's ears in the entry. Among the other bits of wordplay in there is that one definition of suspicion is that it is the barest trace of something and to trace also means to lightly outline with touch.

Additionally? Something that "seems fishy" is something that is suspicious.

The word investigate-- what one does with a mystery-- is from the Latin in (in this case, meaning into) and vestigare (which means to trace). So Crowley's use of suspicious in Demon's Guide and Aziraphale's use of investigate in S2 are playing at the same root word of trace-- a word related to disappearance/appearance/to come that isn't just an action one might take to track clues in a case but is also how one might touch their partner when feeling a bit amorous.

But investigate is also funny to Crowley & Aziraphale for another reason: the words inside the word.

Investigate: IN. VEST... 😂 A day hasn't gone by in, like, at least three hundred plus years that either of them hasn't been wearing a vest and Aziraphale has a clue and he's thinking he might take the car that he's made into an on-going sexual metaphor for Crowley and he wants to go do some investigating...

...and it would seem that this has something to do with why this description of Aziraphale's planned trip involves him pushing his tongue against the inside of his cheek in the time-honored, traditional, non-verbal sign for indicating a desire to give a blowjob. Aziraphale plans to thoroughly follow all possible leads but his hope is that following the clues in this in.vest.igation will lead him on a path south of Snake Belt.

It's also hilarious that Aziraphale tells Crowley that he got his clue from Gabriel 😄-- who was singing to Aziraphale in the house this morning.

Additionally, investigate includes the words gate and ate, right?

Ate obviously relates to their constant theme of food. The word gate originally meant not a door but a hole or to breach a hole and also the eye of a needle... so, we're also back to our ball of yarn/thread in our seamstress-y word of clue. Among its original spellings were geat (so, containing eat) and geatu (containing eat + u lol). As if that weren't enough? The word gate is also found in a French word that is pronounced somewhat similarly to geatu, which is gateau.

A gateau is a rich, French sponge cake that has layers of icing, cream and/or fruit. In Good Omens: Lockdown, Aziraphale is sharing what he's baked during Lockdown but everything that he's baked is euphemistic for fantasies he's been having to get himself off, the content of which he's sharing by way of describing them as kinds of cake. He tells Crowley that he has baked (and "has baked") a Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte, which is almost a Black Forest Gateau but for one, key difference: by definition, it contains alcohol.

Crowley is the embodiment of an elegant and sexy Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte-- a rich chocolate sponge cake layered with and topped with whipped cream and cherries. In Germany, it is actually illegal to refer to a Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte as such unless it contains kirschwasser, which is a cherry brandy made from regional cherries. If it doesn't have that, it's a chocolate cake or, depending on how its made, a Black Forest Gateau.

Alcohol refers to sex and, while it appears to be a generalized word for it as well, it also phonetically kind of spells out what it is: alcohol is "all-co-hol." A hol is a hole or a hollow in several different languages and it's Dutch slang for anus/arsehole/the ass as a whole. Making things funnier? It's also apparently the Dutch word for a cargo hold on a ship. Alcohol is then sex featuring equal hol opportunity for both of them and for Aziraphale to have baked a Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte is to have gotten himself there fantasizing about having some alcohol with his "whipped-cream"-covered, cherry-topped, black forest gateau.

You'll notice that while they eat chocolate, Aziraphale does not ever eat or bake-- and definitely has never had any desire to "bake"-- a Devil's Food Cake. That would just be offensive. You might also notice that Aziraphale said the name of another kind of cake "incorrectly" in Lockdown-- it's called Angel Food Cake. Aziraphale calls it Angel's Food Cake... verbal italics and apostrophe emphasis included. 😉

Anyway... back to clue... in the South Park episode that started the euphemism, there's actually a second one that developed as a result, too, as you likely know, and that's clue goo-- which is euphemistic, as you might suspect, for semen. Goo is a word that Crowley actually uses twice in the series-- once in the show itself and it's one of the words that shows up in Demon's Guide to Angelic Beings.

When Crowley proposes that they run off together in the bandstand disaster scene, he's using a bunch of sexual euphemisms in the process, largely because he knows that Aziraphale is going to reject him. He also is because of language overlap with Armageddon and destruction with sex. In the bandstand scene, he uses "a puddle of burning goo" to describe the end of the Earth as a result of Armageddon but it's also probably an accurate description of Crowley himself after sex. Self-descriptive as well, probably lol.

Because goo is a sticky or, well, gooey, substance but it's also sappy, mushy, romantic sentiment. When Crowley uses the word in Demon's Guide to Angelic Beings, both of those meanings are present, with the idea that what he's writing is total goo (and it is) but he doesn't care. Additionally, he is also referencing its homophone-- gu, the root of the word guru.

Gu is a Sanskrit word that means, among other things: to go (similar in travel theme to to come), water, earth. Guru itself means "worthy of respect." A guru is an expert and guide who dispels spiritual darkness and is one of several references in Demon's Guide where both Crowley and Aziraphale use words relating to healers, the ecclesiastical and other forms of ministry to describe one another, all in a way that relates love and sex in their eyes to a form of spirituality.

Crowley uses guru for Aziraphale and, also, the-erotic-as-religion theme appears to be one of the reasons behind his choice for Aziraphale of the word bishop... one meaning of which is one who, ahem, oversees the actions and spiritual needs of other clergy...

...while Aziraphale goes full throttle on the blasphemy as he always delightfully does and refers to Crowley as a god... several of them.

Finally, if you're looking for words within words, you probably noticed that the word appear has a rather familiar one in it: pear.

But, that's for next time. 😉

[glanceart]

Seraphic_gate Yuumori Fic Masterlist

There has been an interest in my yuumori fics lately, so I tried to write up a little reference for all of them.

Some of them are pretty old at this point and how well I write seems to fluctuate a lot, so please forgive some rough spots. I don’t really do historical accuracy very well either, it’s just for funsies anyway. I think my strong point is in the character writing.

Ships: they’re all sherliam 😂

Please check the tags on the Ao3 pages too. It’s pretty vanilla, but some stuff might be more than you like.

Law of Gravity

Rating: General/Teen

A canon-divergence starting right at the fall of manga chapter 55. Anime Only’s can also go in with not too much difference.

Synopsis: Sherlock and William are on the run from the law together, stumbling into mysteries and life experiences they’ve never had. Along the way, they develop as people and come to terms with the complex feelings they have for each other.

(What I found funny about this in retrospect is that the source material ended up doing a very similar thing, although mostly off screen.)

Status: It is pretty much concluded, I’m just trying to come up with a final chapter as a proper send off for the series.

Warm Nights in Winter

Rating: Adult/Explicit

A companion piece to Law of Gravity that goes into the sexual content I didn’t feel was appropriate for the main fic. More space to explore the sexual development of this specific iteration of the characters I ended up with.

Status: complete unless I get more ideas

Big Easy

Rating: Adult/Explicit

One-shot of Sherlock/William staying in New Orleans and how they’re dealing with the heat. It’s a fluffsmut vibe.

That Man

Rating: General

One-shot. This one has Louis in it, wow 😂 It’s basically me playing with the idea that maybe Louis sees what is going on before everybody else and how he processes that.

Absolute Pin

Rating: Adult/Explicit

Started out as just me needing some top!liam content, but ended up more of an exploration into what might happen if sherliam entered a situationship long before the reveal, what kind of games they’d play, what it would do to them emotionally, etc.

Status: ongoing, maybe 1-2 more chapters.

No Names

Rating: adult/explicit

“What if they fucked on the Noahtic” the fic.

One-shot

Perfect Blood

Rating: Adult for violence/gore (possible smut one day idk)

A vampire AU where the Moriartys are a vampire family. Sherlock has been solving mysteries with morbid commonalities, and this trail leads him to an underworld full of creatures that defy logic and science.

Status: incomplete. I would love to continue this series, but my fic brain has been in off mode for over a year now. Idk who wrote this, it’s like they possessed my body. If they ever come back, I’ll let you know.

[dreamkidddream]

Random Domestic Headcanons with Ranpo

Random headcanons bc I needed/wanted some fluff with Ranpo ☺️ reader is gender neutral!

Living with Ranpo may seem stressful looking from the outside in, but it wasn’t surprisingly

…don’t be fooled though, it wasn’t always easy

It wasn’t a secret that Ranpo could be a massive man child, but you both had a set system in the apartment- a peaceful routine that worked well for the both of you, despite his…setbacks

It always amazed you that despite him being the smartest detective alive, he couldn’t do the simplest of things- for example, laundry

If you love your clothes- please I beg you do not let him wash your clothes

He did it once and you were left with an…interesting wardrobe for the entire week- as comical as it was, you would prefer your usual clothes over the mess that Ranpo made (and tried to fix- as comfortable as it was wearing his coat, you couldn’t wear it forever)

So now you’re the one in charge of washing and Ranpo is in charge of folding! Sometimes he would try to wash on his own but you snatch the detergent out of his hands before he could even pour anything

It still baffles your mind at how he managed to survive this long

He complains about doing housework, and sometimes you would have to entice him to get it done (whether it be the promise of extra snacks or a kiss)

But that’s not to say that Ranpo’s useless- far from it actually

Grocery shopping is a breeze thanks to him- anything you think you’re forgetting, he already knows. His memory is scarily accurate to where he’s already putting it in the basket before you could even think about it. Just remembered that you forgot something at the register? Don’t worry, Ranpo already has it on the counter ready to be scanned

He also puts in a lot of snacks in the cart- and I mean a lot- but you let him get away with it since you love him (although you do have to limit him sometimes since he can go a bit overboard)

Your snacks is his snacks pretty much- but he does share (some) of it with you, even if it’s already missing a bite out of it

Ranpo likes to help you cook! And his way of helping is to taste test everything along the way- which you don’t mind since it is one of the ways that you bond and he does give good feedback when his mouth isn’t full anymore

Eating together is a must! Whether he’s bragging about how dumb the officers acted today or the new mystery that Poe wrote for him, it was always shared over meals together. It was one of the main ways you guys spent quality time together

He would help wash the dishes afterwards

Nights after work would include watching a low-budget crime show and solving it before the show is over (even if Ranpo already knew who the culprit was as soon as the show began, it was still fun- same with a movie), playing his game together, giving a hand at Poe’s new novel, etc.- anything to keep you both entertained and that helps de-stress from the day, he’s down to do (as long as it doesn’t require a lot of work)

Regardless, Ranpo is fine just being surrounded by you after work. Even if he didn’t have to put in much effort at the agency, it still felt good to unwind with you- just having you by his side or in his arms was more than enough

You guys have matching toothbrushes!! It’s childish enough to be his idea, but it’s actually yours

He also lets you take a shower first or even better- bathing together. Its not even in a sexual manner- it’s a moment that both of you are vulnerable together and could actually relax. Taking turns washing each others backs and hair was a form of tranquility that couldn’t be replaced, especially on a rough day

Ranpo is fine being either the little spoon or the big spoon, but he’s mostly the big spoon. You guys switch it up depending on what’s wanted, but most of the time you end up tangled with one another anyway by the time morning comes

Before he leaves for the day (or after you drop him at the agency), he will not let you leave until he gets his kiss. He’ll whine if you forget and won’t let you leave until you remember why- he says that it helps him get through the day, and he’s not lying

He can be selfish at times, but Ranpo really does care for you. He makes sure to put your badge with your train card by the door so that you don’t forget, he saves an extra stick of his pocky for you since it’s your favorite, and he waits for you outside of your office to walk home together (even if Kunikida or Atsushi had to lead him there)

Most of all, he makes sure that you know how much you mean to him. Whether it’s through quality time or his words that he would whisper in the late hours of the night after pressing his lips against yours, he makes sure that you know- and that you don’t forget

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s thoughts on

Silver Blaze Part 3 & 4

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

No, I tell a lie, because I still have stuff from part 2 that I wanted to point out, too:

I‘m a tiny bit obsessed with John's "doink - doink - doink" sounds after they cross the river.

I also laughed out loud at the Romans clearing out at 3:45.

And there’s a very sweet moment, too, that I didn’t really notice before, when they look at the victim‘s body with Inspector Gregory and Watson goes on about possible reasons why a single blow with a stick could have inflicted such damage, osteoporosis etc and Gregory thinks he’s just rambling, but Sherlock absolutely knows he’s not and nudges him back on track with that gentle "What are you thinking?" Because it’s not just John who wants his Sherlock to shine on a case, it’s the other way round, too!

And I honestly hadn’t noticed until the third relisten that at the very end of part 2 when they’re sneaking around Mapleton, John is basically solving the whole effing case just when Sherlock turns up and interrupts him!

Well, on to part 3 & 4!

Sherlock getting a black eye this time rather than a broken nose, yay, we love variety in our hero whumps. I could listen to entire episodes of Sherlock getting hurt and John looking after him.

Sherlock and John faking a legit job to get the information out of the local bookie was such a classic ACD scene, the way they work together completely seamlessly in situations like that is so great. I’ve also seen it pointed out that Sherlock can be so awkward with people when he’s being himself, but he’s always so confident and at ease when he’s just playing a role and being completely fake (without needing a break afterwards or telling us it’s exhausting, too!). That’s a totally fascinating contrast.

Part 2 had John accidentally solving the mystery of the murder weapon. Part 3 has John basically paving the way for the dog deduction. I love a competent Doctor Watson who knows exactly what he’s doing, but I also love it when he’s truly being Sherlock’s famous conductor of light.

John being canonically a Bond fan, love how they’re still incorporating so much BBC Sherlock fanon into this show. I‘m now eagerly waiting for Moriarty and Colonel Moran to be hot young men who have hot sex with each other, too.

"No more than you’re being human" - "Me more than you, mate" - Can ALL the John Watsons of this world please instantly stop dehumanising their Sherlocks and calling them robots or machines. I can accept it maybe up to their third case together, but in any adaptation that I know, the Sherlocks have proved themselves to have a big heart and to have it entirely in the right place, too, by case 4 at the latest. I don’t like to see any Watson regressing to the cheap laugh of "Sherlock’s a machine and doesn’t have feelings" after that, and I dislike it especially in this version where we get a Watson who is particularly well-attuned to and tolerant of Sherlock’s neurodivergence. Sorry, rant over.

Hey and I was right in my prediction that Sherlock didn’t drop John's phone at Mapleton Stables by accident but left it there on purpose! Even if I assumed it would be recording audio evidence rather than be used as a tracker. Which of course begs the question, did Sherlock really manage to somehow connect his phone to John’s and enable tracking in the very few seconds he had before Silas Brown turned up with the gun? Or is he always tracking John‘s phone as a matter of course? And if the latter, does he do it out of care/worry for John‘s safety and wellbeing, or is he doing it in a creepy/possessive way?

Anyway. After listening to part 4, I must admit I am somewhat underwhelmed by that bit… I don’t know what it is, but parts 1-3 are positively bursting with humour and action, while by part 4 I felt they had kinda lost the momentum. There’s nothing really wrong with it, and maybe it feels different when you’re not familiar with the original story and every revelation is truly jawdropping and not just ticking a box. Maybe I‘m also a little underwhelmed that the final denouement at Aintree is so… private. The horse whose disappearance - we are to believe - has GRIPPED THE NATION and is THE news story of the year is just back, and everyone’s just fine with it? No comments from anyone involved in the case? No congratulations from the owners? No bittersweet relief from Edi and Ned? No genuine relief from Fitz? No acknowledgement from the official police? No tearjerking speeches in parliament? I‘d say if you start a story on that kind of epic scale, you shouldn’t end smaller. I really wanted all those loose ends nicely tied up and got… none.

I also either missed something important, or we never really learned the reason why Mapleton kept hiding Silver Blaze? I see how they took him in at first, maybe thinking they’d get a big reward or ransom, or wanting to pass him off as one of their own, but the way it is, they just hide him for no reason and then give him back for no reason?

Am I being too critical?

The thing with the "S" and the "5" was clever though. And poor John and his abysmal Air BnB rating was hilarious, too.

[findafight]

(Okay, gonna try and send this again)

I had a whole spiel about how R0nance has the potential to be very interesting and stimulate character growth on both sides in a similar way to Steve and Eddie. Not to say that Nance needed “ego death”, but she has built too much of her identity around being the smartest person there/the only person who can find the answers, and having Robin challenge her in that way (at times without even needing to) would provide some much needed growth. Because at the moment she’s giving “gifted student who didn’t struggle in school and is going to be eaten alive at college”.

Or, if you wanted to lean into the “Bad R0nance” side of things, they have the potential for a lot of interesting dynamics, scenes and conversations that they couldn’t have with other characters. Like, Barb is already such a charged subject with Nancy - add to that the fact that Barb ditched Robin to become Nancy’s best friend. To say nothing of Steve, who is such a big part of Robin’s life, he’s going to be part of Nancy’s what her she likes it or not.

Hell, assuming that that argument prompt wasn’t meant to be cute or funny, that’s a dynamic that could be interesting to explore. Honestly, I find Nancy’s difficulty with admitting that she’s in the wrong/having to have things done her way interesting, especially in contrast with a lot of the guilt she carries being over things that weren’t really her fault (if a bit too close to how certain loved ones of mine act sometimes). And I already see enough of her sticking to her guns despite common sense going unexplored in the show (quite literally; I love surprise gun-toting badass Nancy as much as the next person, and her and Max sawing down the shotgun was a cool visual. That being said; WHEN have guns ever worked against the Upside Down?).

Anyway - my point is that it’s not that I dislike R0nance, I just find a lot of the stuff written to be OOC, that it ignores many of the elements that I think would make them interesting together, or that it downplays Steve’s importance in Robin’s life/ignores it in favour of treating him more as Nancy’s ex-turned-kinda-friend.

haha yeah I got the first one and was like hm. that's not finished...hope they continue!

yeah Nancy doesn't need the same kind of ego death as Eddie did, but she's in desperate need of the realization she doesn't need to form her identity around her academics and journalism and her ability to Solve the Mystery etc, she can be something other than that. The tidbit from rebel Robin that if Robin tried a bit more, she could be valedictorian or something is so juicy for this! I don't think this is exclusive to romo rnce tbh i think them getting a kind of friendship could be really interesting and change them.

The Barb of it all would be so good and neat to explore. God. the hurt and guilt on both sides? I want them to have a conversation about Barb!! How robin mourned her even before she died, and maybe felt like a fraud for crying herslef to sleep when Barb went missing, because they weren't really friends anymore. How Nancy feels guilt for letting Barb leave, how she wishes she could take it back. How Robin resented Nancy for "stealing" barb away, about her insecurities in her friendships because of that. I want to see it! They could have such a rich friendship!

I want to see them argue! yell! scream and cry! There's so much potential here! their personalities would clash in glorious ways even in a friendship, let alone a romo relationship! hoo hoo!

Poor Steve is just. He's there too. He can't not be, because he might be an ex Nancy didn't talk to unless the world was ending, but Robin would see him everyday? and that's awkward. idk I think people also miss that for Nancy, dating the best friend of an ex she broke up with in....not the best circumstances and tried to avoid since then would be majorly awkward! idk like Nancy has warmed again to Steve in s4, but clearly didn't interact with him a lot between seasons, but she was also flirting with him and then went back to Jonathan, so it's probably not a situation she wants to be in! Besides the whole mess it would be for Robin considering if she actually wanted to date a friend's (best friend's) ex, the ex, Nancy would probably have to consider spending time with an ex like that. (because you're correct! for robin Steve is non negotiable)

(the prompt was absolutely supposed to be cute it blew my mind) But it's such an interesting dynamic, and absolutely something that I can see Nancy doing. It's been haunting me for weeks! Her feeling guilty over things she had no control over, but then not taking accounatbility for things she did and could change, that's so neat! With her relying on body language, and not adequately communicating to partners what she actually wants/needs/is thinking, Combined with Robin not being good at reading people and generally nervous about that inability to read more subtleties, it would be brutal. They would both dig their heels in, but robin wouldn't know why. FASCINATING.

Common sense doesn't exist in Stranger Things <3 Also I know next to nothing about guns but for some reason I know (am pretty sure of?) that sawed off shotguns have worse accuracy. I was like "nooo nancy you don't need to do that! It will also not help at all!" please let Nancy get a meelee weapon please let her beat the shit out of a demogorgon please let her actually inflict damage!

Uhg yes agree. I think it's one of the few ships I dislike more because of the shippers and how they interact with the characters, and that I see it as sort of a relationship that wouldn't last, and the shippers wouldn't like that and also want it canon. So much stuff I find ooc, and also for some reason a number of steve haters (super uncharitable ones that really, idk why they like robin, a character who loves steve so much she wants to combine with him, if they hate everything about Steve). Big turn offs. Not a lot of nuance happening! (which is NOT rnce exclusive!! I exit out of fics with ships I like because I find them ooc etc.) It could be a really interesting ship that would be messy and possibly implode but oof it'd be neat to explore. I've said before that I can see them liking each other and just not working out in an au where Steve and Nancy never had that history, because honestly another part of it is that I just don't see them as compatible (and included it in one of my not at all canon adjacent aus!).

I am with you on a lot of the content fumbles how Steve fits into it. The complexities his relationships both past and present to both Nancy and Robin would bring up between them could be explored more. Like yeah maybe steve's fine with his bff dating his ex whatever. but how would they feel about it? how would Nancy feel about steve being Robin's ride or die? how does Robin's friendship with steve effect that relationship? there's interesting bones here but alas. He's often shoved to the side as Robins friend and nancy's ex-turned friend. WHERES THE JUICE THERE? c'mon! i get some folks want non-conflict romance but maybe the ship that has potential to be so so SO messy that isn't going to be the most incharacter interactions.

[aziraphales-library]

ok so im not sure if this will make any sense, but i was wondering if you had any recs for like,,,big fics

an example would be "the time before" or "a memory of eden"

fics that are multi chapter, have a long over arching plot, preferably ones that involve the whole season 1 gang (anathema, newton, the them etc.)

sorry if that made no sense!!

(oh also any sort of relationship between aziraphale and crowley is fine. i dont mind. maybe preferably fics with no smut but it doesn't matter really)

thanks!!

You’ll want to check our #long fic and #apocalypse buddies tags for more fics like this. You didn’t specify if you wanted to avoid AUs or not (because there are loads of those), so I’ve stuck to canon-compliant. Here you go...

Earthbound Creatures by IneffableToreshi (T)

In burning Agnes Nutter's second book of prophecies, Anathema and Newt discover a mysterious page that refuses to go up in flame. Atop it is written a poem which neither, at that time, can hope to understand.

Something is happening, wheels are turning, and neither Heaven nor Hell are wont to forgive and forget. An Angel and a Demon are very much in danger of losing one another.

Keep Yourself Alive by Jlocked & The_Lady_of_Purpletown (T)

The Apocalypse didn’t happen, and Aziraphale and Crowley's respective Offices have been dealt with. For now. This should be a time for celebration and enjoying their life on Earth. But it seems Heaven has a different Plan for Aziraphale, and Crowley might not be able to solve this.

Meditations on Domestic Bliss by wordsphoenix (NR)

Everyone is alive. Time for an angel and a demon to start doing some living. Preferably in close proximity and with deeper significance than the friendship previously mentioned, since feelings are very much allowed now that Aziraphale and Crowley are aligned with emotionally-driven creatures, and, more importantly, each other.

Good Endings by WyvernQuill (T)

A Narrative of Certain Events following the Ending of the World (Except Not Quite), as vaguely hinted at in The Slapdash and Not Very Helpful Prophetic Tidbit of Agnes Nutter, Witch (And Matchmaker.)

"Their lives are in horrible, terrible danger that only we can save them from!" Anathema held up the Prophetic Tidbit. "It says so. Right here." Madame Tracy peered at the page. Raised a meaningful eyebrow. "Dearie, as a woman of, well, considerable experience, I really don't think that's what 'the lyttle Deathe' means in this context..."

"Huh." Anathema squinted. Flipped the page. Read another bit. "....huh."

(Or, alternatively: Eight - give or take - matchmakers trying really, really hard, honest; two clueless ethereal/occult beings mutually pining their endless days away; and one witch, who can't leave well enough alone when it comes to matters of the heart, no matter how many centuries ago she died.)

Time is the Longest Distance by Beckers522 (M)

Six months had passed since the world hadn't ended and life was good. Life was more than good. It was more than nice. Life on Earth, here in his little corner of London, here with Crowley by his side was absolutely wonderful. Until the day that it wasn't. Until Aziraphale walked into Crowley's flat to find his best friend mysteriously discorporated with both Heaven and Hell staying silent on the matter. With Crowley trapped in Hell and Aziraphale unable to reach him, the pair set off to find their way back to each other. They will have to fight against Heaven, Hell, and Time itself to make their way back into each others arms once more.

This is a full-length story based off the comic by the wonderfully talented Lei_sam. If you have not seen it yet, you need to go check it out. Link in the notes section.

Love is a Temporary Madness by Beckers522 (T)

"They'll leave us alone, for a bit. If you ask me, both sides are going to use this as breathing space, before the big one." "I thought that was the big one." "No. For my money, the really big one is going to be all of us against all of them." "What? Heaven and Hell against...humanity?"

The Apocalypse has come and gone, but Heaven and Hell aren't satisfied. They'd tried and failed to enact their revenge once. Perhaps it is time to try a different strategy.

And the two you mentioned (I assume--please include authors and/or links as well as titles!)...

A Memory of Eden by ImprobableDreams900 (M)

When Crowley gets captured by angels and dragged up to Heaven, Aziraphale knows he has to rescue him—no matter the consequences.

The Time Before by M4R4N14MH (G)

The Apocalypse is not long over and Aziraphale is looking forward to a life free of Heaven and Hell and, most importantly, full of a certain Anthony J. Crowley. That is, until reality attempts to set in again. Now Angels and Demons are being murdered, Heaven and Hell are in disarray, and Aziraphale reunites with a friend older than God Herself. Alpha Centauri has never looked so welcoming, in Crowley’s opinion.

- Mod D

[icarusignite]

The Darkest Hour Before Dawn

Pairing: Spencer Reid x OC! Althea Devereaux

Chapters: 0 / Prologue / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

AO3    | Wattpad

Synopsis

Althea has always been the overlooked middle child, never quite standing out despite her best efforts. But, when a series of tragic events strikes her family, she is forced to step up and prove herself in ways she had never envisioned. With unwavering resolve, she sets her sights on joining the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, driven by a deep desire to find answers to the biggest mystery of her childhood. It is the one thing that kept her going, the thought that if she could just join the team, she could finally solve the case that has haunted her for years.

Althea's opportunity to join the BAU comes in the form of an unexpected surprise and she finally achieves her goal, acquiring a place on the team she has both admired and resented. Her relentlessness in the pursuit of justice earns her the respect of her colleagues and even the attention of the brilliant Spencer Reid. As she delves deeper into the world of criminal profiling, she discovers that her own personal experiences have given her a unique insight into the minds of criminals. However, she realizes that the truth may be more complicated and dangerous than she could have ever imagined and some secrets are best left buried.

In a world where tragedy and triumph go hand in hand, Althea remains determined to succeed where others have failed her, to make a difference in the world and finally bring closure to her family's long-standing tragedy.

❝And in the end, all that remains is the echo of your name .❞

Althea Devereaux

❝I may have started off as the mediocre middle child, but I refuse to end as anything less than extraordinary.❞

Spencer Reid

❝Well, statistically speaking, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than finding a date on a Friday night...but hey, that's just the law of averages.❞

Kaitlyn Devereaux

❝I don't need a medical degree to tell you that a broken heart can hurt just as much as a broken bone.❞

Sebastien Devereaux

❝I guess being the baby of the family doesn't protect you from getting sick. Should've asked for a refund on my birth order.❞

"Nyx"

❝You can't just come in here, with your FBI team and your big guns, acting like you're the hero.❞

Ayaan Ahmed

❝I didn't think it was possible to feel this hot after exiting a burning building, but I guess that's just the effect you have on me, Doc.❞

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Young Althea Devereaux: Mckenna Grace Young Elinor Devereaux: Violet McGraw Older Elinor Devereaux: *** Sarah Devereaux: Carla Gugino Michael Devereaux: Ralph Fiennes

The rest of the criminal minds cast as themselves. More characters will be added as the story progresses.

Spotify Playlist

Trigger Warnings and Disclaimer

This is set in the criminal minds world so it will contain quite a bit of violence, abuse, murder, assault, etc. There will also be portrayals of self-harm, self-destructive behaviour, mental health issues, etc. so if that makes you uncomfortable, please be warned. I will put in additional warnings at the beginning of particular chapters that contain specifically triggering content but just an overall warning that it is going to be quite dark.

Also, it goes without saying, sadly I don't own any of the original criminal minds story/characters (I would very much like to own Spencer and Emily). I only own my original characters and the plotlines I give them.

A/N:

Heyyo, in honour of binging like 4 seasons of criminal minds during peak exam season, I thought I'd write a story for it. This OC has been living in my head rent-free for quite a while and I finally found a place to put her so yay. Get ready for heaps of tragedy and angst lol. I am looking forward to this story and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. The story will be set starting season 1 and onwards.

I was gonna have a ships collage chapter but then I realized that may be a bit spoilery so I guess I'll just say that in addition to our main ship, we'll have Hotchniss (I adore them with all my heart), a very badass sapphic couple, and a few others. Hope you enjoy :)

Also, I would absolutely love to hear yall's thoughts on the story as we go along, it really motivates me to write and I get a sense of what yall might wanna see more/less of. I suck at writing summaries but hopefully, the synopsis wasn't too bad lol.

Cheers.

Taglist (comment to be added):

[possibly-god]

Australium, the Polycyclotron, and Thinking Way Too Hard About The Science Of TF2

Much as the Administrator wishes she had the power, no one can hide the existence of an entire chemical element from the scientific community forever – Australium has been a favorite unsolved mystery of nuclear physics for decades (though various Mann Co. disinformation campaigns have certainly helped keep it unsolved).

That said, Australium already does a lot to keep itself off the official periodic table – its rarity aside, despite its ever-growing list of effects and applications (chemical, physical, radiological, etc.), not one form of atomic analysis ever applied has identified it as anything more than plain old gold.

Australians do their part too, albeit largely unintentionally, what with all the insularity and violence and representing the quantum mysteries at its nucleus with boxing kangaroos because “can you think of a better stand-in, smart guy?”

None of these obstacles prevent Christoph, devoted researcher of the unknown and probably BS that he is, from laying hands on literature speculating on the biological effects of Australium, or from daring spiteful super-scientist Hedy to get him some.

A challenge set to her, Hedy throws herself into every scrap of Australium research and fringe nuclear physics rag she could find �� only to find her answer by chance while reading NASA’s latest before bed.

In a paper on hydrogen samples picked up by the Pioneer probes and their unexpected properties, nestled between sensible theories on experimentation in a vacuum and cosmic radiation is a proposed change to the standard model of physics, a new atomic building block – the ace, aka Quarks A Little To The Left.

(Fun Fact, “ace” was a proposed alternate name for quarks before quarks were called quarks, and I’m going to keep saying quarks because it’s fun to say quarks. Quarks.)

Hedy reads this completely ungrounded, unprovable, untested theory and immediately concludes that not only must aces be real, not only must they form neutrons similarly to quarks, not only must they be responsible for NASA’s anomalous hydrogen, but that aces can form any anomalous element, and that Australium is acerized gold.

Having, to her mind, solved the mystery of Australium, the path to acquiring it becomes clearer to Hedy – UC Berkely only needed a cyclotron to discover 16 elements, and they didn’t even know what they were looking for; she did.

With Seaborg’s cyclotron recipe for gold, it didn’t take much tweaking to get gold’s weird cousin –

Bombard bismuth with neon nuclei to produce unstable gold isotopes

Bombard that unstable gold with acerized hydrogen to produce unstable Australium isotopes

Bombard the unstable Australium with itself to produce stable Australium

These extra steps introduced new danger points, the transitions between them creating points of exposure to unstable radioactive substances – so why have the transitions? Just find a way to run multiple cycles at the same time – and thus, not satisfied with a standard cyclotron or synchrotron, Hedy constructed the 3-ringed polycyclotron.

She’d worked off the most crackpot of theories for two months. She’d dubiously acquired and sparingly tested enough acerized hydrogen for maybe 3 hours of beam time. She’d singlehandedly constructed a nuclear experimentation engine from scrap metal and scribbled schematics. And after she’d run that hunk of junk as long as she could before blowing every fuse in a 5-block radius, there in the chamber was 11.2 grams of pure Australium.

Of course, she, her creation, her best friend, and several others were kidnapped shortly afterward, but that wasn’t her process’ fault, and it did win her next year’s Nobel, so Hedy would call it an absolute win.

Next up - Mom profiles!

TF2K Master Post

[blkafro-dyte]

My OBX3 Rant

So, it’s been a few days since the season 3 trailer for Outer Banks came out, and I’m irritated and scared for the fate of this show. Netflix is notorious for having a great show turn to crap around the 3rd and 4th season. I fear that Outer Banks will become a hot mess.

Like don’t get me wrong, visually the trailer was really appealing, and some of the storylines were intriguing, but overall I’m concerned for a few reasons:

1. This show is so heterosexual. Like there aren’t even side characters that are apart of the LGBTQ+ community. Like be foreal, a friend group with all straight folks....hmmm just doesn’t seem that realistic. Like, the writers are telling me Cleo is, checks notes, straight? Like sister was all over Sarah in season 2, “Sarah, my girl,” ring any bells? 

Also, Kie, definitely doesn’t like men, because when John B kissed her, she immediately was thrown off. Then she gets with Pope, and after having sex with him, she literally said “that didn’t feel like it should’ve, like no fireworks, etc.” I just feel like that’s room for her to open up and explore her sexuality. The whole Kie and Sarah friendship, turned enemies back to friendship, would’ve been so cute if they had a fling their freshmen year, but Sarah didn’t want others to know about her and Kie, so that’s why they ended their friendship in the first place. I just think having Kie being passed around her friend group just pisses me off and the lack of her story line also pisses me off. 

Lastly, for this point, I am a JJPope stan, so I want JJ and Pope to be together, they just have so much more chemistry, but even if they don’t get together, I need Kie to be with a girl. This show is just so STRAIGHT, like BFFR. 

2. I’m mad they keep bringing folks back from the died, but not Sheriff Peterkin..like if anyone should be brought back it’s her, not Ward. I love that John B is gonna reunite with his dad, and that scene that was shown is gonna be heartbreaking, but I’m mad they one, showed it in the trailer, and two, made that a little predictable. Like I know we saw him at the very end of season 2′s finale, but I thought it was a flashback, I was very wrong. 

3. I want Cleo to have a good story line, not just the token Black girl, and I know the writers have Pope and Cleo lined up to get together, and I wouldn’t be upset at that, but I need it to be NATURAL, slow burn if you will. I don’t think Cleo likes boys, like she just doesn’t give me that, and it’d be nice to have her and Pope be a bestie duo. But on the flip side, I do love the black love representation, I just don’t know if the writers will even do that storyline justice. 

4. I need all of the Pogues to get rest. Like these folks haven’t showered nor rested for 2 seasons, and then this one looks like it’ll be nonstop. Like Sarah needs to rid herself of her family, and save Wheezie. Justice for Wheezie. Like that scene with Topper, I wanted to vomit. I know it’s most likely a flashback, but I don’t wanna see that. He’s a weirdo and folks keep wanting to give him a redemption arc. JJ needs rest, I wish he’d stayed with the Heywards. I hope we see his anxiety being addressed this season. John B needs a break too, like please let this man rest. 

5. Rafe and Ward need to DIE, or get thrown in prison and throw away the key. PERIOD, he doesn’t need a love story, nor a redemption arc. 

6. Why are they solving ANOTHER mystery? I know that’s the plot of the show at this point, but they haven’t even gotten the gold or the cross. Like moving onto another mystery...really? 

I know this rant may not seem like I’m excited for this season, I am, but I’m scared for the outcome. Also, this shows lack of representation is concerning. The fact that the directors are feeding into the fan service is also telling of what the show can end of being in the future. 

But that’s the end of my rant, I’ll just be reading OBX fanfics. 

[johnbly]

Tell Me How The House Avenging Is Going, Chilly

[pointing at viewer emoji] You Know How It Is Going Bolt

(@tortoisesshells asked for this as well!)

anyways for those who are not aware, this is my original story that Will be published one day. manifesting it etc. it also means i will delete this post as that day comes so i don't dox myself. anyways. the tldr of the story is bad guys take over magic kingdom house and good bean trio must go on an adventure to find a way to get it back

i think i am perhaps. 3/5 of the way through? who knows. but i am reaching the end of where draft 1 stopped so then i'll be into the void but we are not giving up!!! just getting delayed by the art scuffle but whatever maybe i'll be recharged by it

behold a more recently written excerpt that makes no sense out of context:

“So thanks for sending that fish,” I finished. “It might have all worked in the end without it, but it definitely helped.” “I didn’t send any fish.” (Cecilia speaking. No dialogue tag in the story since it's not needed in the whole.) “Then thank you to whatever fish gods took pity on us,” Lina said. “I don’t think there are fish gods.” “Is that more or less likely than a fish just happening on us during a time of need?” I pointed out. “While I am curious about its appearance, it shouldn’t be the focus of our attention,” Cecilia said. “It’s a mystery to solve after we solve the one that has been hanging over us for the past year and a half.”

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

BFCD Reviews by Nesha: Puppy Dog Pals - Bob & Ana

Not a lot of content for this show, because its for the youngest audience, and they only need a few things, so this show isn’t really a show that would do big on this site. BUT, I did find a few things, probably from kids in the area or people with kids in their lives, whatever, and a few posts I saw that were surprised about Bob being a straight man who has a romantic relationship. So, now I am on a journey to talk about Bob and Ana.

I watched this show because I watch kids shows both to feel them out for kids in my care at work and to decompress from all of the content out there that gets draining and painful to endure because of grit and grime and grimness. And, I think I have found something that I can have as an alternative for Paw Patrol. Kids can see puppies solve mysteries and go on adventures without the copaganda. 

Firstly: This is a show where nobody is going to address sexuality. It will not happen, and so his sexuality can be whatever the audience member who wants to branch out into that sort of thing wants to do. But, let’s say for my journey with this series that he is an asexual man - because the show addresses him with he/him pronouns only, it is a preschool show that does not explicitly give sexuality, and I am ace, so we’re first viewing him from an asexual perspective. 

Ace people can have relationships, love, affection, and even physical intimacy. The option of doing all these things doesn’t necessarily become futile in this orientation. So, Bob could still have himself some human connection, as a treat. Even if you were used to him being a single man with his pets and inventions who didn’t seem remotely interested in having relationships with other people in a standard way.

Even if we presume he has some other orientation - hetero being the most represented in children’s shows, but bisexuality and fluid orientations are making their way into mainstream content for older kids more and more all the time and kids with other orientations may still see this show for a younger audience and see elements of themselves in Bob. A gay child might be confused as to why Bob has a female love interest when he comes across to them as homosexual, etc. 

The conversation about how many queer people get involved in relationships with the opposite sex, and sometimes even begin families is a huge discussion that this is not the place for, but I did want to bring that up, because while I don’t think that’s Bob’s situation, it could be an explanation for a gay audience observing the relationship between these two characters.

Adopt-a-Palooza

The site I was watching this on had delayed captions, so I had to cut them off and I didn’t write down the exact wording, but it was basically both of them taking accountability for running into each other, Bob asked the kitty if he could help them off his head, they exchanged that they thought the other was good with animals, introduced themselves (she was in charge of the volunteers and he was violunteering), then they left their pets to play in the dog park while they went and did their thing for the pet adoptions. (I think if you click on the image it becomes clearer. Will try to have captions in the future ones)

Personally, I think Bob’s nose was wide open the moment he literally bumped into Anaelle. This is the first time we see her, and while they initially collide with each other simultaneously, she soon shows that she's still more coordinated when she catches him from falling a second time moments later.

"Excuse me." "No. Excuse me." Was cutish.

The "you're pretty good with animals " "So are you!"

Ma'am. Sir. That cat, in particular, is traumatized, and Lollie look like her life momentarily flashed before her eyes. The cat saw the moment they effed up and stayed on high alert the rest of the scene. 😅

Since I’m watching this as both an adult who has been in relationships and one who has watched things for a long time, I am used to characters being introduced specifically to become an interest for the main. This is a program created by someone who seems to identify as a man, who seems to be married to a woman. It isn’t a stretch for me that they would introduce a love interest, especially because he already has a steady home life, sort of. Their universe is not exactly like ours, but the nature of things here - the problems are all situational and hardly ever at the hands of a villain, when someone does something wrong or harmful, they almost immediately regret it and apologize... this is a very small child’s show. It is showing very primary connections. 

So, whenever Ana is introduced, she could very well be as a love interest or as a background character. She doesn’t show up and automatically become a main, but she does become recurring and Bob does speak of her and talk to her. He calls her “My friend Ana,” because we aren’t sexualizing them and they don’t have a romance brewing, but They do appear to be being set up for that from the moment she shows up and Bob seems interested in knowing her. That spin of his bow tie when he says, “I’m Bob!” Guys. That was this corny cornball of a man flirting, in his way. And any time you see Ana or hear about her after this moment, there is excitement on Bob’s part. 

Yes. Bob is a very excitable man. He very much gives you that certain, “Me and the Bad Bitch I Pulled” energy. But, he also is a heightened worrier at times... when it comes to Ana, he tends to generally not worry specifically about something until it clearly goes wrong and she winds up being a person who tells him not to worry in those moments. (Not so much in this episode, because they’re just meeting.)

If Bob weren’t going to wind up with Ana, this would still likely be a very special friendship for him, because we don’t get to see a lot of characters interact with Bob in that way. If anything, I don’t know that we ever really got much of why on Earth Ana was interested in Bob, except that maybe, she’s just a cornball of a person, too. It’s cute.